Thane, Nov 2 (PTI) Police have registered a case of cyber fraud after a social worker in Maharashtra’s Thane district was allegedly threatened and cheated of Rs 2.5 lakh by a caller posing as an officer of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), officials said on Monday.
Murlidhar Harpaldas Makhija, an Ulhasnagar resident who works as a social worker, stated in his complaint that he received a WhatsApp call from an unknown number in March. The caller introduced himself as ‘Pramod Mishra’ from the ATS in Pune, a police official said.
The caller allegedly intimidated Makhija by accusing him of being a Pakistani informant with terror links and claiming that suspicious transactions of Rs 3 crore had been found in his account. He was also told that an arrest warrant had been issued against him by a court in Lucknow, and was repeatedly harassed over video calls and pressured to travel to the Uttar Pradesh capital, the official said.
Fearing arrest, Makhija withdrew a fixed deposit from his bank account and then sent Rs 2.5 lakh through RTGS to an account belonging to one Manish Shukla, as instructed, he said.
Based on the victim’s complaint, the police on Sunday registered a case against three persons under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act.
No arrests have been made so far, and an investigation is underway, the police added.
(PTI News)
